Climate Change Deniers and Christianity
Climate change represents the gravest danger to human survival that our species has ever encountered. In the face of this dire challenge, some politicians and preachers have acted with stunning recklessness. They behave as if they’re merrily dancing on the deck of the Titanic moments before its fatal collision with an iceberg. This “death drive” is nothing less than a mass suicide, which tragically encompasses all of humanity.
These zealots exhibit a pattern of climate change denial that is both extreme and dangerous. They refuse to acknowledge the overwhelming scientific evidence that clearly indicates our planet is becoming hotter and drier. Instead, they use their rhetoric to deny reality, weaponizing their words to prevent meaningful action that could help save the world from ecological disaster.
The clock is ticking. The window of opportunity to take action and halt our march towards environmental annihilation is rapidly shrinking – we have less than four decades left. Yet these zealots cling to a fantasy world, rejecting the hard truths of science and reason. They simply believe what they want to believe, refusing to accept the reality of our past or present. Their denialism is a lethal sentence for the planet and all those who call it home.
The scientific consensus on the precarity of humanity due to climate change and geological shifts is now widely recognized. Climate change is real. However, our fossil-fuel dependent culture, upheld by our fundamentalist market culture, often overlooks the plight of those who are most vulnerable. Unfortunately, the scale of danger only increases with each instance of climate denial, making all publics precarious.
The New Zealots, who deny the existence of climate change, put the entire planet in danger. If we are to leave a habitable world for future generations, we must acknowledge the need to reduce our consumption and act accordingly. Climate denial is not just murder; it is suicide. The New Zealots are leading us down a path of genocide that is beyond comprehension.
The idea of a rapture may be the attraction for climate denial. For the past 50 years, evangelical preachers have been promoting the imminent rapture of the church. This end-times doctrine, known as dispensationalism, was invented by the Irish-Anglo theologian John Nelson Darby in the 19th century. Darby’s theology allowed Christians to be taken out of the world until Christ established his millennial kingdom himself.
The scientific consensus on the precarity of humanity due to climate change and geological shifts is now widely recognized. However, our fossil-fuel dependent culture, upheld by our fundamentalist market culture, often overlooks the plight of those who are most vulnerable. Unfortunately, the scale of danger only increases with each instance of climate denial, making all publics precarious.
The New Zealots, who deny the existence of climate change, put the entire planet in danger. If we are to leave a habitable world for future generations, we must acknowledge the need to reduce our consumption and act accordingly. Climate denial is not just murder; it is suicide. The New Zealots are leading us down a path of genocide that is beyond comprehension.
The idea of a rapture may be the attraction for climate denial. For the past 50 years, evangelical preachers have been promoting the imminent rapture of the church. This end-times doctrine, known as dispensationalism, was invented by the Irish-Anglo theologian John Nelson Darby in the 19th century. Darby’s theology allowed Christians to be taken out of the world until Christ established his millennial kingdom himself.
The rapture and climate denial loop has a strong grip on the minds of millions of evangelicals. Their preachers have invested everything in teaching the rapture, betting the planet and its demise on this event. As a result, it has become almost impossible to organize a democratic response to the challenges of climate change we face in the next 40 years.
Rapture preachers are holding the planet hostage to push for their own political agenda. They preach the end of the world while simultaneously working politically to create what they would consider “heaven on earth” in the present. This muddled and conflicting time for evangelicals leads them to conspiracy theories while also hammering away at denying climate change. They are torn between wishing on stars to make their dreams of power come true or praying for Jesus to cause the stars to fall from heaven.
New Zealots are actively participating in a concerted political effort that threatens to turn the world into a living hell. The United States is getting hotter, poorer, and less free, with crops burning, roads buckling, and seas rising. The climate deniers have a host of flamethrowers who make fun of climate change, mock climate change science, and even claim that environmentalists are controlled by demons. This kind of rhetoric aids and abets climate change and turns the United States into a desert.
The rapture and climate denial loop creates a sense of urgency and crisis that leads to a desire for power and control. The New Zealots seem determined to make their prophecies come true, even if it means aiding and abetting climate change. Their message is clear: if you don’t believe what we believe, we will send you to hell one way or the other. And that other way is terribly frightening, turning the United States into an uninhabitable wasteland.